Believed taken well after the American Civil War
Image and permission to use it courtesy of William J. Marshall and Cecil E. Goode
This photo been electronically enhanced by Deep Vee Productions
To view enlarged copies of this and the original image, click HEREBorn _______ __, circa 1846 at _____________ Pike County,
Indiana
Father was ____________________ (18__-18__)
Mother was ____________________ (18__-18__)
His wife was ____________________ (18__-18__)
They married ______ __, 18__ at ______________________________
Their children were _________________________________________
He died _______ __, 1___ at _________________________________
He is buried at _____________________________________________

According to his military service records, Jesse
Bryant was an 18 year old "Farmer"
residing at Winslow in Pike County, Indiana
when he volunteered and was enlisted by Sasser Sullivan
on August 11,
1862 into what became Company H of the 80th Indiana. Jesse was
mustered into the Union Army at the rank of Musician for a 3 year term of
service on September 5, 1862 at Camp Gibson near Princeton, Indiana. At
that time he was recorded by the Army as
being "4
feet 11 inches" tall with "blue"
eyes, "light" hair,
and a "light"
complexion.

According to his service records, Musician
Bryant was listed as "Present"
with the 80th from September 1862 until February 1863.

On October 8, 1862, the 80th took part in the bloody
fighting at Perryville in Boyle County, Kentucky. This was just 30 days after the regiment had first drawn its
uniforms and weapons. During 2 hours of heavy fighting the 80th lost
25 men killed, 116 wounded, and 16 captured out of the 738 men it took into the battle. This
was a 27% casualty rate, and amounted to 45% of all casualties the
regiment would suffer during its entire service. As a Musician,
Jesse would probably have been on the battlefield, either playing and/or
helping to carry wounded men to shelter.

On December 24, 1862, Christmas Eve, Jesse wrote the
following from Camp Gilbert at Columbia in Adair County Kentucky to his
Mother at home in Indiana.

"Tomorrow brings
Christmas once more and glad would I be to be at home on that notable
day...I do not know how long we will be here but we are ordered to have
two days Rations in Haversacks ready to march it may be that we will not
have the pleasure of passing the day here."

The 80th's official
roster lists Musician Bryant as having "deserted"
on February 23, 1863 from an Army hospital at
Elizabethtown, Kentucky. However, in 1889 the War Department removed the
charge of desertion and honorably discharged him from the Army
retroactive to February 23, 1863.

Bryant family history offers an explanation of the
above. Jesse's Father, Thomas Bryant, was killed in action at the
bloody battle of Shiloh, Tennessee a few months before his son
enlisted. It is said that Jesse, who was then only 16 years old, lied
about his age in order to enlist in Co. H with his uncle, Sergeant Willis Brewster.
(This would have made Jesse one of the youngest soldiers in the 80th.)

Unfortunately, Sergt. Brewster died of food poisoning at Louisville,
Kentucky about a month after they mustered in (a fact
confirmed by Sergt. Brewster's military records and by letters written
at that time by other 80th soldiers).

According to the family, in
February, 1863, Jesse's Mother learned that he was sick at
Elizabethtowne and traveled there to see him. It is said that she revealed his actual
age, that he had enlisted without the parental consent required for an
underage enlistment, and took him home. If true, then this
could certainly help explain why the War Department was later willing to
give him an honorable discharge.

For more about Musician Bryant's experiences during the
war, click the 80th History link below to read what happened during for
the months he was present with the unit. If you have additional
details about him that you would be willing to share, then please
contact Scott C. Meeker using the link below.

Sources: Genealogical information courtesy of Jesse's
distant relative William J. Marshall, and from Cecil E. Goode, author of
the book Pike County Kin; Civil War Compiled Military Service Records
by Office of Adjutant General of the United States (Washington, DC); and Regimental
Descriptive Rolls, 1861-1865, Volumes III, IV, and VIII, Report of
the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana (Indianapolis, Indiana,
1866).

This page Copyright by
Scott Cantwell Meeker of Deep Vee
Productions.All Rights Reserved. Created November 19, 2004. Last updated
December 7, 2004.